Google's Gmail Updates

Google finally pulls Gmail contacts tool into line.

Search giant Google has revamped its email service Gmail. The company has overhauled the contact management tool found inside Gmail.

In a blog post Benjamin Grol, Gmail product manager said "An improved Contacts interface has been the number one requested feature from user feedback."

While the core Gmail experience has been changed significantly since its 2004 launch, the Contacts interface has not seen too many changes. The new version of Gmail's contact manager, which Google says is already in the process of going out to users, brings with it a number of changes and addons.

* Mail, Contacts, and Tasks links have moved to the top left of Gmail.

* Compose mail is now a button rather than a link.

* A smaller header area puts the first message in users' inbox.

* The Select All, None, Read, Unread, and Starred links that used to be above your messages are now options in a drop-down menu, next to the Archive button.

* Keyboard shortcuts now work in Contacts too, and Google has made selecting and grouping contacts more like selecting and labeling email.

* Users can now sort contacts by last name. Look under More actions for this option.

* Use custom labels for phone numbers and other fields.

* Now, when users have the option to undo their recent changes.

* Automatic saving: This means users no longer need to worry about 'edit' mode or `view' mode — just edit away and Gmail will save your changes.

* Structured name fields: Users can now set name components (i.e. Title, First, Middle, Last and Suffix) explicitly or continue to use the name field as a free form area if they prefer a less structured approach.

* Manual and bulk contact merge: Users can now merge contacts from the More actions menu. All they need to do is select the contacts they would like to merge and select Merge contacts from under the More actions menu.